Advancement in cancer care
Dr. See Hui Ti and Dr. Melvin Look
Cancer is a growing problem around the world. The number of cancer patients are increasing day by day. Lack of awareness, diagnosis in the late stage, resource constraints to provide treatment facilities to the major population are contributing to make the situation more miserable in countries like Bangladesh. Recently two renowned cancer specialists from Singapore visited Bangladesh. They shed the light of advancement in cancer care while sharing view with Star Health. Most importantly both of them emphasised on screening, early detection and prevention of cancer. Dr. See Hui Ti, a Consultant Medical Oncologist and Physician at Parkway Cancer Centre, Gleneagles Hospital talked about breast cancer and cervical cancer of the woman. Breast and cervical cancers are very common among the woman. Especially cervical cancer is more common in this region. About breast cancer, she told that the most important issue is early diagnosis and prompt treatment. So screening is the very important thing. The earlier the diagnosis is made, the more accurate treatment is possible. Now tailor made treatment can be given with the help of improved imaging technology. She told that the mammogram is not encouraged in young women. This is more preferable for the age group above 40 years. Once there is lump (an irregularly shaped mass or piece) in the breast, it should be examined by the doctors. Although all lumps are not cancers, yet they need to be checked properly. She added — what we emphasis is the patient education and self examination of breast which are really cost effective. Men / the male partners should also need to be educated about breast cancer. Patients with strong family history should undergo regular routine examination of breasts. About cervical cancer, vaccines are very effective. But at the same time, they are very expensive. There is a simple test called — Pap smear test that is very important detecting the cancer of cervix. For older woman, Pap test should be performed routinely, even the individual is vaccinated. Dr. Melvin Look is a Senior Consultant General Surgeon of Mount Elizabeth and East Shore Hospital, Singapore. Dr. Look is a general surgeon with a subspecialty expertise in gastrointestinal surgery, therapeutic endoscopy (including ERCP) and advanced laparoscopic surgery. He discussed about stomach and colon cancer. He shared that the management of stomach cancer has been improved tremendously in the last decade. With the help of precise imaging technique, removal of the lymph nodes around the stomach is easier now. This is done laparo-scopically which reduces the hassle of cutting the whole abdomen staying more in the hospital. Here also comes the factor of early detection. The treatment outcome is better and there is no metastatis (spread of cancer in distant portion in the body). Now 100% cure is possible in case of the patient with detection at stage-I. Endoscopic removal of lymph nodes has opened a new window in the treatment. Dr. Melvin told that there is strong relation with stomach cancer and smoking. So it must be prevented. However, prevention is not much easy in case of stomach cancer, so we do emphasis on early diagnosis, informed Dr. Melvin. Science is getting advanced day by day and offering better treatment options. But the need of prevention will never end up on which we should pay attention. E-mail: tareq.salahuddin@gmail.com
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